Dannii Minogue reveals prank she played on ex Simon Cowell as payback for constantly humilating her

Dannii Minogue has revealed she once played a trick on Simon Cowell during their The X Factor UK days to get back at him for embarrassing her on the show.

The Aussie songstress, now 54, was a judge on the show for four seasons from 2007 to 2010, and revealed during an appearance on The Joel Creasey Show she once got back at Cowell for constantly humiliating her.

"Simon would often tease me so much because I would say something, and genuinely be into it, and he would just say 'That's rubbish', and turn everyone against me just for fun," she told Creasey.

Watch the video above.

Minogue, who was briefly married to late actor Julian McMahon in the 1990s, said what followed was a game of one-upmanship, as they each tried to humiliate each other.

"So that became a game, and my winning moment serving that back to him was when he had One Direction in his group," she said.

The band members famously appeared on the show as solo performers during the Season 10 auditions before Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger suggested they form a band to compete on the remainder of the show under his tutelage.

However, Minogue claims he struggled to remember their names and relied on notes to help him.

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"We are near the pointy end of the show [and] he couldn't remember their names without having a bit of paper under the desk, and I knew no one else would call him out on it," she said.

"So, I took the bit of paper and said 'Speak to the boys now'... on live TV." 

Cowell was only able to name four of the five singers, and incorrectly called Zayn Malik 'Ollie'. 

Elsewhere during her chat with Creasey, the This is It singer said she suffered such severe anxiety, depression and stress during her time on the show.

"I was thrown in the deep end, let me tell you," she said.

"I came from doing Australia's Got Talent in Australia to The X Factor in the UK at the height of when it's the biggest show – the country stopped to watch it.

"And as it comes down the panel, the most iconic panel. You've got Simon, you've got Sharon [Osbourne], you've got Louis [Walsh], and everybody knew them.

"And all the press in the country said to me 'Why are you here? Why do you think you can do this job?' And I'm like, 'I'm as confused as you are. I don't know why I'm here. I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll do my best to work it out'."

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The younger sister of Kylie Minogue ended up quitting the show in 2011 and returning to Australia – but not before she had an alleged romance with Cowell, who is 12 years her senior.

While rumours first surfaced in 2007 that they were an item, both denied it at the time, before Cowell admitted in his 2012 biography, Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell, that they did in fact spark up a brief romance during her early years on the show.

He said he was "like a schoolboy" at the height of his "crush" on her, and described the "nights of passion" they shared.

He later said he was sorry for his ungentlemanly behaviour in writing about the topic, but said he did not want to lie to his biographer, even though the revelation reportedly upset Minogue.

Someone who reportedly knew they were an item was fellow The X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne.

She claimed in her 2013 autobiography Unbreakable that the relationship between the pair caused an "unbearable" atmosphere on the set of the show.

Osbourne has also in the past made other unflattering comments about the Aussie singer.

Minogue, meanwhile, previously described Osbourne as a bully.

Minogue has one child, son Ethan, 15, with former UK born rugby player turned model Kris Smith, whom she dated from 2008 to 2012.

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